How selling a car in Boise works
- Describe the carYear, make, model, whether it starts and drives, damage, mileage and the documents you hold. The offer is built from those answers, and the buyer says it can change at pickup if the car does not match them.
- Book the truckAccept, then schedule the collection through the buyer; the tow is arranged and paid for by the buyer, at the location and time confirmed with the carrier.
- Hand over and get paidFor the usual check arrangement, payment follows securing the car and exchanging the agreed documents. Confirm mailed-check or bank-transfer arrangements beforehand if you cannot attend.
See the Boise pickup in 30 seconds
Video transcript
Sell My Car in Boise. The offer is free and you can walk away. Running or not. The five-day release is yours to file. Your plates stay with you. Payment is made on the spot at pickup in exchange for your signed title and keys. Get your Boise offer. Call (208) 441-4018.
The photographs are illustrations; the document shown is the official ITD form. A completed referral pays this site a fee. The buyer is responsible for the purchase. Read the payment options and document requirements.
The buyer: selling and free pickup; when an offer changes; payment arrangements.
Read how the offer works before booking. It quotes every step from the buyer's own pages, including what it needs from you at the truck and what happens if you cannot be there.
What you'll need at the truck
- The paper title, in your nameIdaho issues paper titles, and the buyer wants the paper: "We'll need the physical paper title to provide you an offer based on having a title." Complete the correct seller and buyer details with the actual sale date; confirm the handover instructions with the buyer.
- The key, if you said you had one"If you answered the condition questions indicating that you had a title and/or keys, you'll need to be able to provide them to the driver at or before the time of pick up."
- Your identificationA driver's licence or other accepted ID with the ownership paperwork.
The buyer: electronic titles; title and keys at pickup; documents to prepare.
A missing title, recorded lender or deceased owner needs the relevant document route checked before pickup: the title problems page has them, with who signs and what each costs.
Three Idaho rules that catch Boise sellers
- Your plates stay with you.Idaho Code 49-431 keeps the plate and registration card with the seller. Take them off before the car leaves, whoever is driving it, and move them to your next car through the county or ITD 3438.
- The five-day release is yours to file.Within five days of handing over the car, the seller files a Notice of Release of Liability, ITD 3858, online with the VIN and title number or on paper with $3.50. It records the sale date and the buyer's name with the state; the release page has the form and a calculator that counts the days Idaho's way.
- An Idaho private buyer handles tax and title within 30 days.For an ordinary private sale, Idaho collects the buyer’s sales tax at titling: "You owe sales tax on the total sales price of a motor vehicle you buy from an individual unless an exemption applies," says the Tax Commission, to the buyer, at the counter. Your part is the signed title and a bill of sale with the true price.
Idaho Code 49-431; ITD 3858, Notice of Release of Liability; Idaho State Tax Commission: private sales; ITD: private-party title applications.
None of the three needs a notary on the ordinary route. The forms that do are the duplicate-title applications, which also accept a county assessor as witness; the title page quotes them.
Five days, counted Idaho's way
After you hand over the car, Idaho gives the seller five days to file the Notice of Release of Liability. The day of delivery does not count, and a last day that is a legal holiday, Sundays included, moves the deadline. We recommend filing online that evening and saving the confirmation.
Count your own five days →Where the truck goes
Give the carrier the car’s actual location and confirm access and availability in the Treasure Valley. Boise itself, from the Bench to the North End; Meridian, Eagle, Star, Garden City, Kuna, Nampa and Caldwell. Give the address where the car sits, a driveway, an apartment lot, a storage yard, and say when you book if a gate or a locked garage stands between the truck and the car.
- Boise, Bench to North End
- Meridian
- Eagle
- Star
- Garden City
- Kuna
- Nampa
- Caldwell
Whatever the address, check the Idaho seller steps: retain the plates, complete the ownership documents, and file the five-day release. Filing that evening is our recommendation, not a different deadline.
Asked by Boise sellers
Does someone come to look at the car before the offer?
No appraisal appointment is needed to request an offer. The buyer may ask for photos after acceptance, and the car is checked at pickup. The buyer: appraisal and inspection.
Do I keep my plates in Idaho?
Yes. Idaho Code 49-431 keeps the plate and registration card with the seller. Remove them before the car leaves. Idaho Code 49-431.
What do I have to file after selling?
The separate seller sale-reporting step is the Notice of Release of Liability, within five days of delivery, online or on paper. An Idaho private buyer has separate title and tax steps; a buyer taking the car to another state follows that state’s requirements. Idaho Code 49-526.
My title is electronic or at the bank. Can I still sell?
The buyer needs the physical paper title for a title-based offer. Resolve any outstanding loan before the buyer’s purchase. If the title is missing, ask about the separate no-title route; it does not waive the unpaid-loan requirement. The buyer: electronic titles.
Does a car in Ada County need an emissions test to sell?
No. The state repealed the requirement effective July 1, 2023, and the EPA approved the removal in Ada County. See any condition.
Rather ask a person first?
The Boise line is (208) 441-4018. Ask about the offer, about a title that is not straightforward, or about a car that does not run. We buy cars ourselves, and a person calls you back with our offer after the form or a call. Where we cannot buy one, the instant online route on this site goes to a partner buyer that makes the offer, sends the truck and writes the check, and pays this site a referral fee when a sale completes.
Everything else about a car in Boise
Each one answers a single question from the agency's own pages, for Boise specifically.
- PaperworkSigning an Idaho title, the ITD 3738 bill of sale, the odometer line, and what your buyer files in the next 30 days.
- Release of liabilityThe five-day notice that is yours to file, ITD 3858, and why your plates come off before the car leaves.
- Title problemsLost title, a loan still on the record, a co-owner who is away, or a title in a late parent's name: the Idaho forms and who signs.
- Any conditionWon't start, hail, high miles, missing wheels: what each one means for the offer, in the buyer's own words, plus the emissions test Ada County ended.
- Where to sellPrivate sale, trade-in or a pickup offer, with the repair-or-sell arithmetic and Idaho's trade-in tax rule.
- Selling privatelyPayment you can verify, the buyer's name on every document, and what Boise and Idaho authorities have warned about.
- How the offer worksThe offer, the paper title the buyer needs, the check at pickup, and the alternatives, from the buyer's own pages.
- After you sellPlates kept, the release filed, insurance and the IdahoIVS letter, and why a toll text in Idaho is a scam.
- Salvage & rebuiltWhat Idaho means by salvage, the Rebuilt Salvage brand that never comes off, and selling either one.
- Towed or impoundedThe Boise City lot, the 208-570-6120 call that comes first, parking-fine tows, and the 2026 change for private property.